Get your hopes up for Halifax in 2013

Tourists walk under umbrellas while taking a path up Citadel Hill in October. A Facebook project is asking Haligonians to share their opinions and hopes for the city. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

Corinne MacLellan and two others want people to share their 2013 wishes for Halifax.

They’ve launched a yearlong project on Facebook, under the banner Dear Halifax, that will feature videos of people sharing their opinions or hopes regarding the provincial capital.

MacLellan, who works in marketing and communications, toiled on a similar project last summer for the provincial tourism campaign. Getting the chance to ask visitors what they thought of Nova Scotia made her think the same idea would work for Halifax.

“I thought it was a fascinating thing,” she said in an interview Monday. “In this platform, it gives a great, unattached way for people to say what they hope for 2013.”

MacLellan is volunteering on the project along with production co-ordinator Miles Connely and photographer Mike Dembeck.

“It’s evident we don’t have a budget,” MacLellan said. “It seemed to be something really easy to pull together.”

The page will include video interviews done by the organizers and will also have videos sent in by others. They have guidelines against using foul language or other offensive content, MacLellan said.

She said some early commenters spoke about clean energy or crime in the city.

“These are all things that people are concerned about, and they’re things that people should have a voice and a platform to speak out on.”

At the end of 2013, MacLellan intends to create a retrospective or recap video. She doesn’t know where the project will go, she said.

“I think it will be fascinating. If I did know how it was going to look, it would sort of spoil the surprise.”